Today's flight for 2022

[Bolter]

6 hours ago, Sue Bon said:

Do you need a special certification to do this? We do over here... It looks so fun!

There is a license you can get that is required to fly formation in "waivered airspace" which essentially means formal air shows.  Outside of that, as long as you are coordinating with the other planes, there is no restriction on flying in formation, including in Class B, C, D airspaces.  We began with simple position-keeping flights with 2 ships, and incrementally, and carefully, added more ships and maneuvers.  We try to practice regularly.  For me, and several others, this began with flying in the Mooney Caravan, and turned into a new sub-hobby within flying.  

To learn more, the controlling body for the formation certification for our type of planes is: https://ffi.aero/  This is recognized and required by the FAA for formation in waivered airspace. 

I should also add that I am not an expert, but I work hard to maintain safety.   

[0TreeLemur]

Yesterday flying home from Martinsburg, WV, I spied the New River flowing through a gap in the Appalachian mountains.  Taken looking south near Pembroke, VA.  Rivers that cut through mountains fascinate me.  30 knot headwind made the going slow.

 

[Ibra]

13 hours ago, Sue Bon said:

Do you need a special certification to do this?

It depends, fast Mooney at VS keeping up with slow Cessna at VNE, I think it’s hard work and needs a rating of it’s own 

In EASA, there is no required training as well, for lose formation: nothing required other than common sense and finding the right pilots, for close formation: twice wing span? it’s worth getting formal training:, 5h theory + 5h dual + 1h solo is typical for close formation courses, some are thought by ex-military or people in airshows or displays

SERA.3135 covers legalities aspect 

Those with experience in military, gliding, caravan…tend to hook quickly, they are category 2 here 

 

Edited October 21, 2022 by Ibra

[toto]

Flew a Cirrus for the first time. G6 SR-20. Pretty interesting. Seems solid and well-built, but quite a bit slower than my J at the same power settings. 

Seats are like a BarcaLounger, visibility isn’t great - big plastic pillars around. Gullwing doors seem kind of pointless, but having one on each side is nice.

Garmin Perspective+ is very nice. Steering with brakes is weird. 

[0TreeLemur]

7 minutes ago, toto said:

 Steering with brakes is weird. 

They don't have a steerable nose wheel?   How antiquated.

[toto]

1 hour ago, 0TreeLemur said:

They don't have a steerable nose wheel?   How antiquated.

Nope, it’s castering. I’m not sure that I understand what the advantage is. 

[KLRDMD]

Just now, toto said:

Nope, it’s castering. I’m not sure that I understand what the advantage is. 

Lighter weight and less complicated than noswheel steering.

[EricJ]

2 minutes ago, KLRDMD said:

Lighter weight and less complicated than noswheel steering.

Turns sharper, too.

The tricycle RVs are the same way.

 

[toto]

14 minutes ago, KLRDMD said:

Lighter weight and less complicated than noswheel steering.

I guess I’ve heard both of those points, but seems like you’re giving up some functionality (not to mention trashing brake pads) for a pretty small amount of weight savings. And there’s a whole bunch of complicated stuff on the airplane - definitely not a KISS design in many ways. Seems odd that getting rid of steering is the one area where they decide to go with the simple thing. 

[toto]

14 minutes ago, EricJ said:

Turns sharper, too.

The tricycle RVs are the same way.

 

I thought it was kind of a pain to steer, and definitely didn’t seem any sharper. But I’ve got one hour total, and very little of that was taxiing in circles, so <shrug>

 

[MikeOH]

A few from my recent flight along the SoCal coastline. The last one is Catalina

[Ragsf15e]

Taxi back from Night currency in Spokane.  Did it IFR as I’m allergic to the rocks.

[rbp]

Wood's Hole and Falmouth MA, en route for lunch at Chester.

[PMcClure]

The week before last,  it was a beautiful day as I flew from Pell City to Macon County Regional (1A5). What a beautiful and scenic mountain airport with a very full ramp. I had initially planned to land at Jackson County (24A) but as I was doing take off calculations and reviewing density altitude, gross weight, etc... I figured Macon was a safer bet. 24A is 3210' at 2856' compared to 5000' at 2034' elevation. 

Fall colors were in full display as my son and his friends and I caught about 12 trout each from the Tuckaseegee River. Woke early on Monday and caught 3 nice trout before flying to Shelby, NC for a business meeting then flying to Chicago Executive that evening. Winds were 30-40 knots and gusty on approach but still managed a greaser landing. That evening I amused myself about standing in a river in the morning, in a factory in the afternoon and Chicago for dinner. How good is Mooney life?

After a full day of meetings and an evening at Gibson's, I chickened out on weather and flew commercial to Cleveland for 2 more days of meetings before flying back to Chicago and catching a cab to Executive for a beautiful flight home to KPLR. When talking to clearance for a VFR departure, they asked my initial heading which was 177 degrees. He replied, "NO ONE departs from here going south. State your intentions...."  A quick look at the charts is self explanatory, so I departed to the east and flew under Bravo until Gary, IN. Now if I could only figure out how to post pictures again, I would add a few......

[carusoam]

10 hours ago, rbp said:

Wood's Hole and Falmouth MA, en route for lunch at Chester.

Looks like you captured Falmouth Airpark in the pic too… Just North of Waquoit and Green Pond… 

We had a couple of MSers there in the past…

Best regards,

-a-

[Sue Bon]

3 hours ago, PMcClure said:

How good is Mooney life?

So, so good!!  

[PMcClure]

9 hours ago, PMcClure said:

The week before last,  it was a beautiful day as I flew from Pell City to Macon County Regional (1A5). What a beautiful and scenic mountain airport with a very full ramp. I had initially planned to land at Jackson County (24A) but as I was doing take off calculations and reviewing density altitude, gross weight, etc... I figured Macon was a safer bet. 24A is 3210' at 2856' compared to 5000' at 2034' elevation. 

Fall colors were in full display as my son and his friends and I caught about 12 trout each from the Tuckaseegee River. Woke early on Monday and caught 3 nice trout before flying to Shelby, NC for a business meeting then flying to Chicago Executive that evening. Winds were 30-40 knots and gusty on approach but still managed a greaser landing. That evening I amused myself about standing in a river in the morning, in a factory in the afternoon and Chicago for dinner. How good is Mooney life?

After a full day of meetings and an evening at Gibson's, I chickened out on weather and flew commercial to Cleveland for 2 more days of meetings before flying back to Chicago and catching a cab to Executive for a beautiful flight home to KPLR. When talking to clearance for a VFR departure, they asked my initial heading which was 177 degrees. He replied, "NO ONE departs from here going south. State your intentions...."  A quick look at the charts is self explanatory, so I departed to the east and flew under Bravo until Gary, IN. Now if I could only figure out how to post pictures again, I would add a few......

Pictures for effect. Any fly fisherman will recognize the Brown, Rainbow and Bookie qualifying as the Appalachian Slam. I used Atlantic Aviation in Executive. They treated me very well and kept my plane in a hangar and no extra fees or surprises. I was the only prop on the ramp. Getting in and out of PWK is a little challenging but Chicago Approach was very easy to work with. 

 

[aviatoreb]

11 hours ago, PMcClure said:

Pictures for effect. Any fly fisherman will recognize the Brown, Rainbow and Bookie qualifying as the Appalachian Slam. I used Atlantic Aviation in Executive. They treated me very well and kept my plane in a hangar and no extra fees or surprises. I was the only prop on the ramp. Getting in and out of PWK is a little challenging but Chicago Approach was very easy to work with. 

 

 

Nice!  My youngest son is a big fly fisherman - and this has developed into a parallel play complimentary hobby for us since he was young.  He picks a cool place to fish, and I find the airport nearby and we fly there and fish.

I call it FLY fishing.  Complimentary symbiotic hobbies.

He works for the epa now, in water management.

Edited November 4, 2022 by aviatoreb

[PMcClure]

11 minutes ago, aviatoreb said:

Nice!  My youngest son is a big fly fisherman - and this has developed into a parallel play complimentary hobby for us since he was young.  He picks a cool place to fish, and I find the airport nearby and we fly there and fish.

I call it FLY fishing.

He works for the eps now in water management.

Wouldn't mind sharing notes on airports and spots. I have a good collection in NC and TN but always looking for other options. 

[aviatoreb]

8 hours ago, PMcClure said:

Wouldn't mind sharing notes on airports and spots. I have a good collection in NC and TN but always looking for other options. 

WELL - glad you asked!

I would HIGHLY recommend Atlantic Salmon fishing on the Miramichi, New Brunswick ME - fly fishing for 45-55 inch salmon - that's a fight.   Airport CYCH.  There's a number of great hunting/fishing lodges along that river (needs to be guided), and we stayed several times at one that Ted Williams the baseball player used to like to go to apparently.  Best time is shortly after ice-out - like 3rd or 4th week of April.

Northern Michigan is nice fishing - UP - like Marquette Airport. And area.

Several great places in Maine.

Of course - fly fishing is fantastic right here - Adirondack region in so many places. We would drive or fly to - sometimes like a 10 min flight (12) to Lake Placid and you can literally fish off the end of the runway.  Bethel Maine is like that too.

So many more - send me a pm query!

[carusoam]

Great pics and videos…

The videos are automatically starting as I scrolled by…

 

Best regards,

-a-

[Ibra]

Orbiting over Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, UK 

[rbp]

A lot of great flights over the last week, but one notable one was tuesday, when I did 2 laps in the pattern at PNE and then flew home

I am night current for the first time in well over a decade. 

[Sue Bon]

Last adventure for the year. Prague  First pic is the airport falcon that brought its handler a dead rabbit. You can see its white cotton tail on the ground behind the vehicle. Poor bunny...

Now it's just one or two CHF 300.- bratwurst(s) for me until another 4 weeks on the ground for a panel upgrade and annual. It's been an amazing year  

[KLRDMD]

Last night departing Chandler, AZ.